Customer Reviews

The Secret History of Lucifer: The ancient path to knowledge and the real Da Vinci Code

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fan's of Lynn Picknett's work will appreciate this book. Her main thesis is that Lucifer and Satan are not one in the same. The first half of the book illustrates this idea quite nicely and gets into the Gnostic bent of the idea of Lucifer being the "light bringer". But the back half of the book seems to go more into the history of Satanism and witch craft, which is interesting, but in my mind strays from what she is trying to prove and loses focus on the real topic of the book.

The most interesting part of the book is its linkage of Gnostic belief and Luciferinism. It is suprisingly erotic and a bit sensational with some of its theories and history.

There are also some facinating ideas about the alleged "feud" between Jesus and John the Babtist, that definitely paints Jesus outside of the "love one another" philosophy.

As popular as Picknett is with Dan Brown virtually relying on all of her material, I'm suprised this book hasn't got more attention.

Overall, this book is a very interesting read. However, it does require one to have an open mind and at times to suspend judgment in order to consider possibilities other than what is generally accepted in the popular culture. She does use well-documented source material throughout the book, but there are moments when Lynn Picknett makes serious leaps in logic and does not actually have anything factual to back up her claims (conspiracy church theories and assertions about Jesus's life in particular). The bias in her writing is obvious, and this leads her to make assertions that at times feel like they just came out of left field. It is not her theories that bother me I found some of them quite intriguing, especially as a person who is interested in the way mythology describes the public culture. But I am used to reading well-researched material by competent historians, and there are times when Lynn Picknett's book feels more like a sensational novel than a serious work. It would be delightful to see more hard evidence for what she asserts, but until that time, I have to take what she is saying with a grain of salt. As long as you read this book with the idea that it is largely theoretical, you'll be fine.

I did enjoy this book at first, though by the end I was very annoyed by it. Picknett makes many assumptions which require the reader to automatically accept what she says as fact. Furthermore, rather than being objective, the author actively pursues the idea that Luciferanism is the only way to go. While this is a point of view one does not hear very often, it uses the same poor debating skills as any Christian proselytiser. The book even devolves in the final chapter into a chapter on how the age of Lucifer is upon us, which should bring enlightenment and understanding. This is fine for a religious text to do, but this book purports to be a book of history and facts.

I read this book when I was still a Satanist (I'm not anymore), and most definitely did not find it useful. If you are looking for actual history written by real historians, I would highly suggest reading, "The Origin of Satan" by Helen Pagels either instead of or along with this book. That one is fact based. While it does digress into talk about early Christian and Jewish sects, the whole thing is coherent and engaging - and will help you to be a better Satanist by understanding the history of humankind's perception of Satan.

Note that the history of Lucifer occupies only a small fraction of this book and--as should be obvious to anyone--the recently changed subtitle (originally "Evil Angel or the Secret of Life Itself?") referencing the DV Code is for marketing purposes to cash in on the mania. The book is well written, well researched and is characterised by the not-so-strict interpretation common for this field where connections between events, persons, names, and words are quickly made. It starts out fairly strong by being true to the title and going into the origin of the character we know as Lucifer. But early on we sense a political current which later on explodes in a feminist anti-church tirade. It takes the greater part of the book as the author suprisingly shifts her focus from Lucifer to Satan--whom she despises nonetheless. All the immoral acts, and she gives us an exhaustive and detailed list of them, of male oppressors and the church are connected to satanism, not to Lucifer. Even this part of the book is entertaining to read but in the end one realizes one is far away from the original intent. To her credit, she brings up a lot of curious historical characters as well her past research on Templars and Turin shroud which may or may not have anything to do with Lucifer or Satan but are interesting nevertheless. Had this book stayed on task it would probably have been half as long.

This book is a great history lesson on the origin of Lucifer. The Roman Goddess Diana Lucifera was the illuminator or en-lightener, the Catholic church demonized this pagan Goddess and transformed her into Lucifer. Pan, the god of nature to pagans was used as a model for the devil with horns and cloven hooves. The snake was traditionally a symbol of wisdom in myths. The author does a great job explaining the mythical origins of Lucifer, Satan, and the devil and how they are different personages. Lucifer was an enlightened pagan goddess. Satan was the adversary of the old testament. The devil is the tempter of the New Testament. Read this book for the full story.

This book is an interesting read if you are willing to sift through the authors personal opinions, a lot of which goes off on a tangent and at some places there are paragraphs that don't seem to follow on from or have relevance to previous paragraphs. The author seems to dislike men and religion in general and unfortunately she seems to have used this book as a platform to purvey that sentiment rather than telling the story that was intended.

SATAN RULZ!!

Just kidding.

For some time now, Lynn Picknett has been shaking things up with some very unorthodox (but not completely unheard-of) excursions into possible hidden meanings behind (and often completely alternative interpretations of) various beliefs long established by the organized religions which rule cultures throughout the world, especially in this country.

This, her latest, is yet another one of these, this time turning to the sensation-turned-being known as Lucifer. With her vast imagination and thorough research, Ms. (Mrs.?) Picknett really raises some interesting points, including further explorations of Leonardo da Vinci (and what Dan Brown already has drawn much attention towards), how Christianity has long taken the ancient Greek myth of the god Pan and made him synonymous with the devil, etc. etc.

Though perhaps the subject matter of this and other books may not be unheard-of, Ms. Picknett certainly has done her proverbial homework on this and created another intriguing look into, quite simply, life.

I picked up this book based on the title and was disappointed. I was expecting a history of Lucifer along the lines of The Pillars of Tubal Cain by Nigel Jackson and Michael Howard, and Michael Howard's prequel/sequel to Pillars, The Book of Fallen Angels, both of which do the subject justice.
In Picknett's book, the history of Lucifer is found in the first chapter only, and it isn't much of a history. There isn't even an indepth look at the War in Heaven or the story of Watchers, a story that should have been central to Picknett's book since Lucifer, as Lucifer-Azazel, is equated with Shemyaza/Azazel, the leader of the Watchers. Both these stories are central to understanding who Lucifer is, why he fell, and what it meant to the development of the human race. It may be my perception of the work, but Picknett seems to treat Lucifer not as a real being, but as an abstract concept or model to be emulated; maybe this is the reason she doesn't go very deeply into his history.
As other reviewers have already noted the majority of the book is devoted to Gnostic philosophy and why the Church exterminated the early Gnostics, the machinations of the RCC to marginalize the role of Mary Magdalene, the Church's subjugation of women in general, the brutality of the witchhunts in both Europe and America, the 18th and 19th century secret societies, including the Freemasons, and finally closing with a discusssion of Laveyan Satanism. I didn't see the author's point for the inclusion of Satanism in a book about Lucifer, especially, after she states in several places that they are not the same figure.
While the book is well researched it also overflows with Picknett's personal opinions, conspiracy theories, and diatribes against Christianity which get incredibly tiresome. Added to this is the sense one gets of reading a piece of sensationalistic, yellow journalism throughout the book. This was so annoying that I almost didn't finish it.
I gave this book 3 stars because it is well researched, but if you are looking for a book that actually focuses entirely on the history of a literal Lucifer then pick up Pillars of Tubal Cain and The Book of Fallen Angels.

The book starts out quite interesting, but Ms Picknett does go off on different tangents in her books. They do tend to repeat each other in the subject of Da Vinci, Mary Magdalene and all things Templar. It seems getting one book on the subject is sufficient. Speculation is fun and can take one anywhere. It helps to have some evidence to back up the claims, and there is little to back up some of the claims here.

The title itself is not exactly truthful as very little time is actually spent on Lucifer. The Lucifer referred by Ms Picknett is Diana Lucifera, a Roman version of the Moon Goddess Diana who was also a protector of witches. Lucifer does mean light, and Ms Picknett goes on to state how this version became the one synonymous with Satan.

Was the true Savior John the Baptist? Was the Shroud of Turin actually painted by Leonardo Da Vinci? Evidence suggests no for both, unless Da Vinci was a time traveler as the Shroud is mentioned way before he was born.

The biggest problem is the ideas themselves just get wilder and wilder. It seems the author wants to go further than other researchers in this area by making these rather different claims. Some find the claim of Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene and having children wild, wait until they read the idea Jesus was a nasty person and the real Messiah was John the Baptist.

If the book was a fun read, it would be OK. But it is a task to get through.

If one wants to get an idea of the author's views, read her book Mary Magdalene. It is a better book and first treatment of her ideas.

I like this book, but if you have read the other books by Picknett you are going to feel like you have already read this book. It is not really a story about Lucifer at all. It is the story about Gnosticism in the Enlightenment.